THE LORD JESUS AS SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF JOHN’S GOSPEL

John 14: 1-3, 15-20; 16: 7-28; 17: 24

We desire, beloved, to call your attention to the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially in the light of this gospel—the Gospel of John. I can only briefly rehearse the points which we attempted to bring before you last week.

We called your attention to the wonderful fact (one might almost call it the basal fact) of incarnation. The scriptural statement of incarnation is in chapter 1: 14 of this gospel: “And the Word became [not was made] flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth”. Then we reminded you of verse 18, and how in that verse the full truth of the Person of the One who became flesh is unfolded, and the moment the full truth of His Person, as the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, comes before us, the Father is declared.

We attempted to bring before you from the Gospel of John what incarnation really involves, and one feels it to be so great a subject that one is conscious how little one can rightly speak of it. It was the way which God took to make Himself known to man; it was the necessity for the desire on the part of God to reveal Himself; there was no other way to reveal Himself. In incarnation God has brought Himself into revelation, and thus He has brought Himself within the range of man’s apprehension; and if we look at it on our side it is equally true that we could never have known God apart from incarnation; He must have remained the invisible God dwelling in unapproachable light that no man hath seen nor can see; not but what He is still that, but He has come out in the revelation of Himself in Christ.

We tried to show you that the revelation of God is connected with two thoughts; there is the nature of God as light and as love—putting the statements in the order in which the Spirit gives them in the first Epistle of John. There we read “God is light” (1 John 1: 5) and then “God is love”, chap 4: 16. But there is more than this in connection with incarnation, for in the revelation of God we have divine Persons revealed. When I say divine Persons revealed, I am not forgetting what the Lord said in Matthew 11: 27 about Himself, “no man knoweth the Son but the Father”, but I mean that we have divine Persons so far declared that we can speak of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and this belongs to the very foundation of Christianity. We all know that Christian baptism is unto the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; and in that there is a certain revelation of the affections which subsist between divine Persons in the Godhead. In chapter 1: 18 the declaration of God is spoken of as an accomplished fact: “he hath declared him”, not ‘He is declaring him’. We do well to consider that the gospels not only cover the life of the Lord as Man down here, but they cover His death. No one can understand any one of the gospels excepting in the light of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I make this statement in order to show that the revelation of God really covers, not only the Lord’s life here in flesh, as a Man, but it covers His death, so we might say that the revelation of God culminates and finds its completeness in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This leads us to speak of His death, and remember we are speaking from the Gospel of John; indeed, in a sense, we need not speak of it—we do well to call your attention to His own speaking about His death, and He speaks of it definitely twice in this gospel. He speaks of it in chapter 3: 14, 15. He says to Nicodemus: “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up, that everyone who believes on him may … have life eternal”. The words “may not perish” are doubtful in verse 15, they are not doubtful in verse 16. So that the Lord speaks of His death as the antitype of the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and the great point is that the one believing on Him should have life eternal. But what is the connection between His being lifted up and the one believing on Him having eternal life? I apprehend it is this—eternal life belongs (and you have only to look into scripture to see it) not to man according to flesh, viewed as in responsibility, it is connected in scripture with the purpose of God, and the believing one may have it; all that has been connected with man in the flesh must find its judicial termination under the judgment of God, and that took place on the cross—“God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin [that is, as a sacrifice for sin], has condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8: 3)—so that all my history as a man in flesh is no hindrance to my having life eternal, for whosoever believeth on Him has life eternal.

Now there is the other passage in John 12: 24, where the Lord again speaks of His death, and He says, “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”. In chapter 3 it is a question of the removal of that which is contrary to God, but in chapter 12 it is the other side, it is the question now of the grain bearing fruit—of bringing a new generation into existence; so that the believing one is not only connected with the death of Christ as ending the history of man according to flesh, but he becomes part of a generation that had no existence prior to the death of Christ, save in His own Person ...

Now I want to speak a little of His resurrection, and also of His ascension, and of what is connected with each; and then I want to touch on His coming. Let me again remind you that we are speaking from John’s gospel. The first mention of the Lord’s resurrection is in chapter 2: 19, when He went into the temple and found there the sellers of oxen and sheep, &c., and He drove them out. Then they challenged Him to give them a sign, and He gives them a sign. He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”; that was the sign. I would call your attention to the wonderful significance of that sign: “He spoke of the temple of his body”, v 21. His body as a Man here was the true temple of God—of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the Trinity are presented in Him in John’s gospel—three divine Persons. John bears witness (chap 1: 32) of having seen the Spirit in the form of a dove descending upon Him, and the peculiar expression of John is—“it abode upon him”. One could quote a good many passages from this gospel where the Lord speaks of the Father dwelling in Him, and, beloved, He Himself in His own Person is there presented as the Son—“the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1: 18); so the truth is brought out that He was the temple of God, God dwelt in Him abidingly. With the exception of this passage (where He says, “Destroy this temple”), you find everywhere in John that His death is His own act: “No man”, He said, speaking of His life as a Man here, “taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself”, John 10: 18. Again—“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” ...

Then—as to His resurrection—the first significance of it is that it is His own act; even in chapter 2 He says, “I will raise it up”. It is in a sense the rebuilding of the temple of God. He laid down His life, but in resurrection He takes it again as Man; He takes it up in a condition perfectly suitable to all the purpose of God, and He takes it up, may I say, in a condition that places Him—His precious body—beyond all the reach of Man; He lives after the power of an endless life; death has no more dominion over Him. His body was the alone point where the enemy could touch Him; Satan persuaded himself that he would destroy Him by bringing His body into death, and that would end everything! But did it end everything? No; it was the beginning of the accomplishment of the eternal purpose of God. In it God was declared—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were made known. Those Jews, led on by the enemy, might in a sense “destroy” His body, but they could not destroy the light of the revelation of God; that was beyond the power of the enemy to touch. He builds His body again, and He builds it in a condition that is indestructible, beyond the reach of man, and beyond the reach of death for ever. One would speak carefully and reverently; He died on the cross under the judgment of God. He died as Man; He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Man nailed Him to the cross and heaped every indignity upon Him, and He bore the judgment of God; but in dying under the judgment of God He exhausted that judgment perfectly and for ever. He has built His body; He is raised from the dead.

Now there comes to light a very interesting thing in connection with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; you find Him risen in chapter 20, and with the exception of what He had to say to Mary personally, the first words that left His lips were “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17. But it is not His resurrection that has made us His brethren. Let me quote Hebrews 2: 11: “For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”—“all of one”—of the same origin, derivation. Where did that take place? In His death. The “grain of wheat” fell into the ground and died, and in His death that took place which answers to what takes place in a grain of wheat which falls into the ground and dies. The many grains come forth, and so it is His death and not His resurrection that makes us His brethren. The term “brethren” involves our being “all of one”. Before His death He was alone; now there are “many” who are of His nature as a Man, and the first thing that comes to pass in resurrection is that they are brought to light; He owns them; He recognises them; He says, “Go to my brethren”. They will share all that belongs to Him, though that does not come about yet. He had been alone, but He is alone no more; He is still the heavenly One, but there are heavenly ones with Him now, the beginning of whose spiritual being was in His death, and they are brought to light in resurrection.

There is another aspect of the Lord’s resurrection in John. We find there two things as to the disciples—the eleven; they are the Lord’s disciples—His peculiarly chosen ones, and we find them in association with Him. I am anticipating a little, for association is chiefly with the Lord in ascension, but we find them also in association with Him as risen, and though you may take account of them as in association with the Lord as risen, remember resurrection does not take anybody to heaven; I speak reverently, it did not take the Lord to heaven. Speaking of it in the broadest sense, resurrection is God’s victory over death down here. In the moment that is coming, when “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thess 4: 16), God’s victory over death will take place down here, where all the death, and all the sorrow has taken place, and in one moment the power of Christ will undo all that death has ever done for the saints of God. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the pledge and anticipation of blessing here upon earth, and God is going to return to that side for His earthly people; He is going by-and-by to take things up down here for blessing, and when He takes them up for blessing the order of God will be—first, the remnant of Israel, and then the blessing will spread out, not only to the nations—those particular nations found in prophecy connected with Israel, but it will go forth to the ends of the earth ...

Now I must pass on because I want to speak a little of His ascension—I might have spoken more fully of resurrection if time had allowed, but I trust I have said enough, so that I shall not lie under the suspicion in any Christian’s mind that we want to minify the resurrection, but it is clear that the terminus in John’s gospel is not resurrection. Ascension is the terminus, because John presents Him as the divine Man, the second Man out of heaven; and the second Man out of heaven could not find His terminus (if I might use such an expression) in resurrection; although His ascension is not actually given in John—his whole gospel is in the light of it. He says, “I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father”. We might cite many such passages in this gospel, but I only note one more. In the message which He sends to His “brethren” in chapter 20 He says, “I ascend”, so we are bound to take account of His ascension.

Now the first thing in connection with the Lord’s ascension is the association of sons with Himself. Ascension is the point of association. Association in the New Testament scriptures stands connected with Christ as the ascending or the ascended One. Hence He says to Mary Magdalene: “Go to my brethren [there are the brethren—the “much fruit”] and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. If I understand scripture those words denote association, and the point of association is His ascension. His death is the womb of our new existence; in His death we have been brought forth of the same nature with Himself as Man, and He owns us; He calls us His brethren. In His resurrection we have come into view, and then in His ascension we are placed in association with Himself. In the Gospel of John everything is attributed to Himself, so to speak. It is in His death that we are brought forth as the “much fruit”; we come into existence as the “much fruit” of the heavenly Man—the second Man out of heaven. In John His resurrection also is His own act, as I have said. In Romans it is attributed to the glory of the Father; in Ephesians to the surpassing greatness of God’s power: but in John’s gospel He raises the temple of His body in three days. He not only has power or authority to lay down His life, but He has the same power to take it again. Then we are brought to light as His brethren, and now He places us in association with Himself. You will bear with me in repeating these truths, but I think there is a very widespread defect amongst us in that we do not seem to have the sense that we are entitled to be heavenly, and that we belong to heaven. If we speak of association with Christ the very thought of association connects us with heaven.

Another point in connection with ascension is this—I read from chapter 14 and also from chapter 16, and in chapter 16 the Lord positively declares that “It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you”. The coming of the Comforter did not depend merely upon His death or upon His resurrection; it depended on His ascension and glorification. In John 7: 39 we are told: “for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. So that the coming, and the abiding and indwelling presence of the Spirit of God stands connected with His ascension. I trust that is clear. I am sorry to pass over the points so briefly, because, in one sense, everything practically in Christianity hangs upon the abiding, indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. Christianity lies within the region or sphere of the Spirit of God; outside that sphere, in this city of London, vast as it is, there is not one bit of what God takes account of.

There is one more point I want to speak of in connection with ascension, and that is the scene brought before us in John 20. We most of us understand Pentecost in a certain way; it was on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Ghost descended, but I do not know that we all understand what we get in John 20. We find there that Mary Magdalene went with the message (to which we have referred) from the lips of the Lord; the “brethren” were together, and they received His message; so they were together not only in the light of His resurrection, but they were there in the light of what was involved in His words—“I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. On that day in the evening, He appears in their midst, and the point I would refer to is this—it says in our King James Version, “He breathed on them”, but that is not right, “He breathed into them”, and He says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. It has generally been stated that in John 20 we have the divinely-given pattern of the assembly, not the assembly as coming together for the Lord’s supper, or the breaking of bread as in 1 Corinthians, but a pattern of the assembly viewed spiritually, and viewed in relation to the heavenly privileges of the assembly ... the Lord breathed into them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Now I think that in the light of the fact (of which we are pretty generally agreed), that John 20 is a divinely-given pattern of the assembly in the way in which I have spoken, and in view of the Lord’s words to Mary Magdalene preceding, that we are entitled to regard the Lord here in the light of His ascension, although His actual ascension was not until forty days after that time. But the time and actuality of things do not appear in John; it is the divine pattern that he gives, and so according to the pattern we are right to regard the Lord in this scripture as in the light of His ascension. He is acting in that light, and so He breathed into them. I am sorry I cannot speak at greater length, but I would say this (it may help you to understand it), that the close of Luke and beginning of Acts give us the truth as to the Holy Ghost outwardly, and in connection with public testimony. The Lord says to them, “Ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judæa and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”, Acts 1: 8. But John does not give us the Spirit in those connections, he gives us the Spirit inwardly. It is not the Spirit in relation to outward testimony, but in relation to the enjoyment of heavenly privileges.

Now I want to speak of one more point before I close, and it is this—The Lord is coming again; as He says in chapter 14, “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me. In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be”; and in perfect keeping with this in chapter 17: 24, He, speaking to the Father, says, “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. We often speak of the rapture, but the revelation of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 is from the standpoint of the sorrows and needs of the saints. Paul’s last word there is: “So encourage one another with these words”. And what a wonderful word of encouragement and comfort for the saints that has been from that day to this! But in John 14 it is not from the point of view of our sorrows in a scene like this, where death is, and all that it involves; but the Lord is speaking in the light of His own love, and you cannot have anything higher than that. He is not thinking for the moment of the sorrows and needs even of His people—though He does take account of every sorrow that touches His people—He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but He is speaking there from the standpoint of His own love. “I go to prepare you a place”, and it is the necessity of His love to do so. He says, “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself”. It is as though He had said: I know that wonderful place—the Father’s house—I go to prepare a place for you in it, and He has prepared it—His entrance there as Man prepared it for His people. He says to them, ‘I must have you with me where I am’, and He says to the Father, “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory”. I cannot speak as fully as I would like, but there are two sides. One is, that we are to shine in manifested glory with Him—as it is so beautifully put in Colossians 3: 4: “When the Christ is manifested who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory”. That is the display—the manifestation side. But there is another side, there is being with Himself and beholding His glory—“My glory”. There is a glory given Him which we are going to share with Him; but there is a glory peculiar to Himself, and which is connected with Himself as the One who is the peculiar Object of the Father’s love from before the foundation of the world, and we are to see it. One can understand limitations to the manifested glory, but to that which He speaks of as “My glory” there are no limitations—it will never end.

May the Lord endear Himself to our hearts in connection with these wonderful facts about Himself. I am sure He is seeking at this time, in a very especial way, to engage the affections of His people’s hearts with Himself; and may it be thus with us, that our hearts may be drawn out to Him, and that we may learn increasingly to appreciate Himself and to make everything of Him.